AN AERO ACOUSTIC PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR PROCESSING WASTE

Abstract

An aero acoustic processing apparatus includes an aero acoustic processing machine (10) having a cyclone chamber (12) having an inlet (14) for receiving waste to be processed and an inlet (16) for an entraining gas in the form of air. A rotational drive apparatus in the form of an electric motor (18) is coupled to a shaft (20) to which an impeller (22) is coupled rotates the impeller (22) within an impeller housing (24) to draw the air and the waste material to be processed into the cyclone chamber (12) and through an axial inlet system (26) into the impeller (22) and impeller housing (24) and to expel the processed material through the impeller housing (24) radially through a transverse outlet.

Claims

1. An aero acoustic processing apparatus which includes: an aero acoustic processing machine having: a cyclone chamber having an inlet for material in the form of waste to be processed and an inlet for receiving an entraining gas; and a rotational drive apparatus coupled to rotate an impeller which rotates within an impeller housing to draw the entraining gas and the material to be processed into the cyclone chamber and through an axial inlet system into the impeller and impeller housing and to expel the processed material through the impeller housing radially through a transverse outlet, wherein processing includes comminution of waste materials in the form of end-of-life materials.

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste to be processed is in the form of consumable items.

5. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is formed of laminated sections.

6. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in any one or more of the preceding claims wherein the waste is in the form of an agglomeration of materials formed together.

7. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the aero acoustic processing machine is configured to comminute, separate or delaminate the waste into its constituent parts through a range of extreme vortical forces by aero acoustic treatment.

8. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of solar panels.

9. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of windscreens.

10. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of laminated glass.

11. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the laminated glass includes any one of the group including safety glass, security glass, swimming pool surrounds, shower screens, and the like.

12. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of LCD screens.

13. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of electronic waste.

14. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of a battery.

15. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the waste is in the form of gypsum board.

16. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the aero acoustic machine is configured to provide conditions within the cyclone chamber that maximise comminution, separation or delamination of the waste.

17. The aero acoustic processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the aero acoustic machine is configured to provide conditions within the cyclone chamber that maximise a range of diverse reactions caused by the extreme forces exerted on the constituent parts of the waste.

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

20. (canceled)

21. A process for processing waste, which waste is formed of laminated sections or is an agglomeration of materials formed together are exposed to processing via an aero acoustic machine that separates those parts through a range of extreme vortical forces by aero acoustic treatment, wherein the process employs an aero acoustic processing plat to aero acoustically comminute, delaminate or separate a range of waste materials, and wherein the range of waste materials include any one or more of the group including solar panels, windscreens laminated glass, safety glass, security glass, swimming pool surrounds, shower screens, LCD screens, electronic waste, batteries, and gypsum board.

22. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

24. A process as claimed in claim 21 wherein the processing plant incudes an aero acoustic processing machine having a cyclone chamber and a rotational drive apparatus coupled to rotate an impeller housing to draw air and material to be processed into the cyclone chamber and through an axial inlet system into the impeller and impeller housing and expel the air and processed material through the impeller housing radially through a transverse outlet, the plant further comprising an enclosure surrounding the aero acoustic processing machine

25. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0058] The invention will now be described by way of the following, non-limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] In the drawings:

[0060] FIG. 1 shows an aero acoustic comminution apparatus including an aero acoustic machine;

[0061] FIG. 2 shows a cross-section of a portion of the cyclone chamber having an inlet for the material in the form of waste to be comminuted and an inlet for the entraining gas of the machine of FIG. 1;

[0062] FIG. 3 shows the impeller of the machine of FIG. 1; and

[0063] FIG. 4 shows another version of an impeller of the machine of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0064] In the example below, photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are delaminated into component parts using an aero acoustic apparatus.

[0065] PV Panels

[0066] Test 1. is to establish the degree of de-lamination of the various layers, including glass and PVB (Polyvinyl Butyral) or other interlayer material, that make up a photovoltaic panel using an aero acoustic apparatus such as that described in WO 2018/187848.

[0067] The PV Panel was cut into 5 cm5 cm pieces and fed into an aero acoustic machine at a rate of 5 tonne per hour (tph). The components were weighed before and after processing. The outputs were then measured separately thereby indicating the percentage of separation that was achieved.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Weight Weight Weight of PV of PV of Residual panel Glass Backing Glass Separated sections Powder Sheet on Glass % before recovered after Backing available processing from pro- pro- Sheet for Test 5 cm cessing/ cessing/ 5 cm re- N.sup.o 5 cm/gm gm gm 5 cm/gm cycling Test 1. 24.44 20.98 3.46 0.13 89.03 Test 2. 24.52 21.57 2.95 0.20 87.56 Test 3. 24.36 21.24 3.12 0.19 86.37

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Im- Speed: Ambient Feed peller RPM Inlet Temperature Rate Test 1. 92 cm 3325 36 cm 22 C. 5 tph

[0068] Glass that makes up in the region of 88% of the total volume of outputs produced from these tests, is considered suitable for a range of commercial uses including concretes, asphalt, speciality paint finishes and reuse into new glass products. Glass powder produced from the aero acoustic machine is sharply angular making it more suitable for use in binding within mixed products than more rounded glass particles. This fine glass powder is effective as a direct replacement for sand in concrete. Sand that is suitable for concrete is scarce in many parts of the world.

[0069] The Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) that is recovered is usable as a resin for applications that require strong binding. As a recycled raw material, it can be classified as a thermoplastic elastomer and has unique physical and mechanical properties for the plastics industry, including tenacity, flexibility, polarity, neutral colour and processability for injection, extrusion, and thermoforming.

[0070] As a new secondary raw material, recycled PVB can be used as an Elastomer, Impact modifier for homo Polypropylene, compound for use with PVC (phthalate plasticizer free), a binding agent for materials (metallic, inorganic, organic, magnetic), binding agent for textiles, hot melt, coatings, and as an adhesive.

[0071] Many countries including Australia have banned PV Panels from landfill and the panels must be recycled. At present there is no cost effective or commercially viable way to achieve the 90% plus rate of component recovery required to qualify as fully recycled. Test 1. shows that vortex processing will delaminate the PV panel and make over 88% of the residual output suitable for recycling.

[0072] Further, aero acoustic processing of PV Panels include silicon and silver metal, which are of relatively high value and which are readily available for recovery after aero acoustic treatment.

[0073] The inventor, in considering the aforementioned, proposes the following invention:

[0074] An aero acoustic device, as mentioned above, that is configured to provide conditions within the processing chamber, typically the cyclone chamber, that will maximise comminution, separation and/or delamination, and/or a range of diverse reactions, caused by the extreme forces exerted by the device on the constituent components or parts of items that may be of a form that has been moulded, pressed, fabricated or created naturally.

[0075] Many industrial scale recovery processes, now commonly used to separate and recover for re-use, the differing constituents of the item being processed, involve the use of heat to melt, burn or through pyrolysis, to reduce the various materials present to an altered, varied and separate state or to a char focussed on exposing the value of the carbon residual. The advantage of using an aero acoustic device is that the integrity of the components remains inherently intact throughout the separation process and provides higher recovery rates of usable and re-cyclable materials.

[0076] In FIGS. 1 to 3, an aero acoustic processing apparatus includes an aero acoustic processing machine 10 having a cyclone chamber 12 having an inlet 14 for the material in the form of waste (not shown) to be processed and an inlet 16 for an entraining gas in the form of air. A rotational drive apparatus in the form of an electric motor 18 is coupled to a shaft 20 to which an impeller 22 is coupled rotates the impeller 22 within an impeller housing 24 to draw the air and the waste material to be processed into the cyclone chamber 12 and through an axial inlet system 26 into the impeller 22 and impeller housing 24 and to expel the processed material through the impeller housing 24 radially through a transverse outlet.

[0077] Processing includes comminution, separation and/or delamination of waste materials.

[0078] The length of the cyclone chamber, and thus the air inlet position, is variably adjustable by slidingly displacing a trumpet portion 28 relative to a tubular portion 30 of the cyclone chamber 12 at the open end thereof. The air inlet 16 has a diameter of 1 m at the trumpet portion 28 edge 32.

[0079] Flat tangential angle A of the inlet 14 allows waste material to enter the intense vortex airflow in the cyclone chamber 12 with minimum disruption to a vortex that exists in the centre of the cyclone chamber 12. The inlet 14 can be set to an angle A of 17 degrees to the centre line 34 to allow the particles of the waste material to be processed to accelerate to over 200 m/s while still in the inlet 14 thereby causing minimum effect on the air speed or the vortex forces in the cyclone chamber 12.

[0080] The waste material inlet 14 into the cyclone chamber 12 is angled at 17 degrees in the direction of flow of the entraining air relative the longitudinal axis centre line 34 of the cyclone chamber 12 and at between the 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock position into the cyclone chamber 12 when viewed from an axial direction. The inner diameter of inlet 14 at its opening where the waste material to be comminuted is added is typically 356 mm. The inner diameter of inlet where the material enters the cyclone chamber 12 is typically 336 mm.

[0081] The air inlet 16 and the waste material inlet 14 are made of steel having a wall thickness of typically 10 mm. The inlets 14 and 16 are typically generally pipe-like in form.

[0082] The cyclone chamber 12 has an inner diameter of 336 mm at the waste material inlet 14 end and increases to 640 mm at the impeller housing 24 end i.e., it flares towards the impeller housing 24.

[0083] The impeller housing 24 has an internal surface (not shown) with an asymmetrical configuration so that a gap between the impeller 22 and the housing 24 is not constant around the circumference of the impeller 22. Thus, in use, the gap between the impeller 22 and the internal surface of the impeller housing 24 varies over its extent.

[0084] The linear velocity of the air flowing through the cyclone chamber 12 at its impeller 22 end is typically in the range of 230 m/s to 260 m/s.

[0085] The transverse outlet of the impeller housing 24 is typically about of 0.55 m.sup.2. The transverse outlet typically has dimensions of about 0.74 m0.74 m.

[0086] The impeller 22 shown in FIG. 3, is a radial fan impeller having a set of impeller vanes 40 secured between two plates 42, an intake opening 44 being provided on a central zone of one of the plates 42, the intake opening 44 having a series of fixed vanes 46 distributed around a central hub 48 dimensioned and orientated for inducing a desired flow characteristic as the gas is drawn into the impeller 22. The impeller vanes 40 in this embodiment are scoop-like and extend radially away from the hub 48 towards a periphery of the plates 42 thereby to define the impeller 22.

[0087] The impeller 22 has an intake diameter in the range of 0.5 m to 0.8 m, typically having an intake diameter in the region of 0.6096m (24). The impeller 22 has an outer diameter in the range of 0.75 m to 1.1 m, typically being in the region of 0.9144 m (36).

[0088] The impeller 22 of this embodiment is manufactured from steel having a nitrided steel surface to improve resistance to wear.

[0089] The impeller 22 has a rotation speed of from 3 300 rpm to 3 500 rpm but the speed of rotation typically depends on the material being comminuted.

[0090] The embodiment of impeller 50 shown in FIG. 4, is a radial fan impeller having a set of impeller vanes 52 secured between two plates 54, an intake opening 56 being provided on a central zone of one of the plates 54, the intake opening 56 having a series of fixed vanes 58 distributed around a central hub 60 dimensioned and orientated for inducing a desired flow characteristic as the gas is drawn into the impeller. The vanes 52 in this embodiment have a flat profile and are angled at an angle B of up to 15 degrees off the centre line 62 of the shaft 20 to promote a more efficient and dispersed particle flow through the impeller 50. This also reduces the stress and pressure on the metal vanes 52, and the wear on the surface of the vanes 52.

Advantages

[0091] Aero acoustic processing of waste materials is less likely to produce compounds from heat or chemical changes and separation, which in themselves create an environmental issue as their disposal is often a larger and more complex and compromising issue than managing the disposal of the original item, and as such reduces recovery environmental and commercial efficiencies.

[0092] The use of an aero acoustic device to process waste materials substantially reduces the cost associated with separation and re-cycling. The industry accepted costs of specialised equipment to produce heat and to manage hot, sometimes molten materials, liquids and to control exhaust gases are negated by using an aero acoustic device. Although some value may be recovered, the residual waste is usually non-compliant and becomes part of a highly regulated and expensive waste disposal exercise.

[0093] The materials may also be recycled using a grinding process. The use of basic grinding equipment to delaminate by its nature will create a single residual agglomeration of all materials that requires a further raft of separation processes to resolve the extraction of viable reusable products.

[0094] An aero acoustic device has been used to produce extreme forces including high speed air at above 700 kph with associated vortices and a wide range of intense sonic and harmonic frequencies (1998 patent describes this best WO1998035756A1). As the impeller that is used to generate the air flow in the device is the only one moving part, maintenance can be significantly reduced. Separation and resource recovery is at present a labour and capital intense business, challenging in most circumstances and beyond the financial and technical reach of many countries.

[0095] High throughput rates for the given energy required makes the aero acoustic device extremely efficient with relatively little manpower required to operate, and a simple layout with a pipe, fan housing, impeller and drive motor forming the basis of the devices fabricated parts. Throughput of 10 to 25 tonne per hour of materials such as windscreen glass, solar panels, and other laminates use less than 25 kwh/tonne.

[0096] The energy efficiency makes the devices environmentally efficient placing less pressure on resources when in operation, while providing a variety of recovery and re-cycling options for an assortment of waste materials.

[0097] The device is practical and commercial as its size and configuration is suited to it being built inside a 40 ft high cube container that has the necessary sound attenuation fitted to the walls. In this form it is highly mobile being able to move to various locations with ease. This characteristic makes it both functional and sensible for use in a wide range of commercial scenarios. Many items for which the delaminating attributes of the device are suited have no genuine commercial alternatives with governments throughout the world spending 10's of millions to discover a solution to the high rates of dumping to landfill that exists with solar panels, plasterboard and other laminates.

[0098] It is, of course, to be appreciated that the aero acoustic comminution apparatus and processes employed thereby in accordance with the invention are not limited to the precise constructional and functional details as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings and which may be varied as desired.

[0099] Although only certain embodiments of the invention have been described herein, it will be understood by any person skilled in the art that other modifications, variations, and possibilities of the invention are possible. Such modifications, variations and possibilities are therefore to be considered as falling within the spirit and scope of the invention and hence form part of the invention as herein described and/or exemplified. It is further to be understood that the examples are provided for illustrating the invention further and to assist a person skilled in the art with understanding the invention and is not meant to be construed as unduly limiting the reasonable scope of the invention.